Where does the key/clef go? About a problematic passage in Schumann’s F-major string quartet

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Peter Jost
Fig. 1, from: Wilhelm Busch, "Eine kalte Geschichte" (1878)

Fig. 1, from: Wilhelm Busch, "Eine kalte Geschichte" (1878)

Fans of the humourist Wilhelm Busch will certainly be reminded of the story of Mas­ter Zwiel who, upon returning from a tav­ern on a cold winter’s night, stands at his front door with key already in hand and vain­ly seeks the keyhole.

 

The story ends tragically: Master Zwiel loses the key and falls while searching for it into a water barrel where he finally freez­es to death.

The finale of Robert Schumann’s string quar­tet in F major, Op. 41 No. 2, is not, in fact, quite so dangerous for violists, but there is a connection with Master Zwiel. For the musician also has in hand a key, as it were, but has to search for the matching keyhole – that is, the correct position for the key. [Translator’s note: The German word Schlüssel means both ‘key’ (as used in music notation and as well as in a lock) and ‘clef’, making sense here of the pun.] Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, first edition, Monday Postings, Schumann, Robert, string quartet, String Quartet op. 41 Nr. 2 (Schumann), variant reading | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Without words, but with a foreword – what’s new on Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise”

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Dominik Rahmer

Looking at the topics of the by now more than 70 postings of this blog, most of them deal with questions of musical notation – accidentals, pitch or articulation and dynamics. This is of course not surprising, yet working with musical sources and producing correct and reliable music texts are central in our business. Continue reading →

Posted in first edition, genesis, Monday Postings, piano + voice, Rachmaninoff, Sergei, Vocalise op. 34 Nr. 14 (Rachmaninoff) | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

A “new” Mozart work. On the c-minor “Fantasy” (K. 396/385f) in its original setting for violin and piano

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert

In the year 1821 three distinguished personalities met in Weimar: Goethe, Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Mozart. Mozart, of course, not in person, but in the form of his original manuscript that Goethe owned at the time (and that he identified on page 2 as “Mozart.”): Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, Fantasy K. 396(385f) (W.A. Mozart), Monday Postings, Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, Noah Bendix-Balgley, piano + violin, Robert D. Levin | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Clarinet – Oboe – Horn. New chamber music by Carl Nielsen on the Henle agenda

Posted on May 26, 2014 by publisher

Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) is probably best known as a prominent com­po­ser of symphonies. His very serious works, full of doubts of both the world and himself, also finally suggested his nickname ‘the Danish [Ri­chard] Strauss’. Henle publishers have set out to show the somewhat dif­fer­ent chamber-music side of this composer and are publishing short­ly three wind pieces from his early-to-middle creative period. Continue reading →

Posted in Canto serioso (Nielsen), clarinet, Fantasy Piece op. 2 (Nielsen), G. Henle Publishers, horn, Monday Postings, Nielsen, Carl, oboe | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Best until… How long does an accidental last?

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Norbert Müllemann

Today’s musicians tend to react to the above question with raised eye­brows. Isn’t it clear – accidentals in the key signature are always in force and for all octave registers unless annulled by natural signs. An ac­ci­den­tal found in a measure is valid for this note and for the entire measure – no longer, no shorter. But this was not always so.

For instance, there were other rules in Johann Sebastian Bach’s time. Key-signature accidentals were indeed used as they are now, though the accidental placed within a measure was valid only for this one note. If the same note was later repeated in the bar, then the accidental had to be given again in order to be further valid. Continue reading →

Posted in Bach, Johann Sebastian, flute solo, Flute Sonata BWV 1030 (J.S. Bach), Monday Postings, notation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The accent question in Schubert: An old theme with new variations

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Peter Jost
Franz Schubert<br />(Source: Wikimedia.org, Licence: PD)

Franz Schubert(Source: Wikimedia.org, Licence: PD)

Anyone working with Schubert’s autographs inevitably runs up sooner or later against the famous accent ques­tion: that is, more precisely, the question of whether the sign notated at this or that passage means an accent or a decrescendo hairpin. Although both signs in modern music notation are very clearly distinguished one from the other – an accent is placed directly above the note head, the hairpin below or above the stave –, they are closely related in origin. When in the expiring 18th cen­tu­ry the signs for getting louder or softer (cres­cendo and decrescendo hairpins) arose as alternatives or sub­sti­tutes for the written-out directives crescendo and de­cre­scen­do, the > sign evolved as an abbreviated de­cre­scen­do hairpin. The correlation becomes graphic for instance in Beethoven’s songs. Continue reading →

Posted in accent, Monday Postings, notation, Octet D 803 (Schubert), Schubert, Franz | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

‘Servant of two masters’ – when the editor is caught between two composers

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Dominik Rahmer

The basic idea behind an Urtext edition is well known; it is a composition edited in such a way that it corresponds to the composer’s will, ending up the ‘definitive version’ as a rule. Yet what about having to consider two wills und a ‘pair’ of definitive versions…? Continue reading →

Posted in arrangement, Bach, Johann Sebastian, Busoni, Ferruccio, Isoldens Liebestod from "Tristan und Isolde" (Wagner/Liszt), Liszt, Franz, Monday Postings, Partita BWV 1004 (J.S. Bach), piano solo, transcription, Urtext | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Listeners are also only human

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert

Observations on the necessity of body language in piano playing

Wilhelm Busch: "Der Virtuos", 1865 (Source: Wikimedia.org, Licence: PD)

Wilhelm Busch: "Der Virtuos", 1865 (Source: Wikimedia.org, Licence: PD)

For today, an altogether practical subject for those of us who play piano and are pianists: Perhaps it has still not gotten about every­where that piano playing appeals to the eye more than to the ear! Pianists have then a fair chance of winning competitions only if they re­in­force their playing with expressive body movements and facial expressions. A current, reportedly serious study proves it: That is to say, upon merely watching soundless (!) com­pe­tition shots, lay people as well as pro­fes­sio­nals chose the same (!) winners as the expert panel of judges at the same competition. In other words: the eye, not the ear pre­de­ter­mines solid piano playing. Or put another way: The jury, wearing earplugs, would also have nominated the same winner. Now that’s something to really make you think…. Continue reading →

Posted in Alfred Brendel, Beethoven, Ludwig van, Hungarian Rhapsody (Liszt), Lang Lang, Liszt, Franz, Marc-André Hamelin, Monday Postings, piano solo, Piano Sonata op. 31 nr. 3 (Beethoven), Piano Sonata op. 7 (Beethoven), Piano Sonata op. 81a Les Adieux (Beethoven), Victor Borge | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The lord of the low tones – Tobias Glöckler in conversation about Dragonetti’s “Famous Solo”

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Annette Oppermann
Tobias Glöckler

Tobias Glöckler

The double bass entered the Henle publishers’ catalogue a few years ago by way of the Dresden double bassist Tobias Glöck­ler. Entirely classically, to begin with, through the concertos by Hoffmeister and Dittersdorf, but soon also joined by some­what exotic titles such as the Twelve Waltzes by Dragonetti for Double Bass or the famous Elephant from Saint-Saëns’ Car­ni­val of the Animals. “The Famous Solo” by Domenico Dra­go­net­ti, most recently published in the version for doub­le bass and string quartet, now even presents a first edition of a doub­le bass work in our publishing-house programme. Here you can read how it came about… Continue reading →

Posted in Dittersdorf, Karl Ditters von, double bass, Double Bass Concerto (Dittersdorf), Double Bass Concerto (Hoffmeister), Dragonetti, Domenico, Famous Solo (Dragonetti), Hoffmeister, Franz Anton, Monday Postings, Tobias Glöckler, Urtext | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The sounding gardens of the Henleans – a short Urtext saga

Posted on March 3, 2014 by publisher


n a small valley of Mt. Olympus a musical beauty spot once nestled into the mountain of the gods. No Odysseus, no Heracles ever came on an odyssey or ordeal through this baroque/classical/romantic re­fuge; not even once did the ancient Homer let it ex­tol his muse. Whether, however, Xerob of Copyean was referring to this in his annotation “Ι ωανδερεδ οηχε βυ τηισ ηιδδεη ωαλλεψ.” (In: Ηικινγ, Athens etc., 752 BC, papyrus 7), is much disputed among specialists.
Why is so little known about this valley? – Well, living there was a small race called Henleans that worked tirelessly day-by-day in an almost Sisyphean manner at its destiny: the Urtext. The fa­ther of the gods, Zeus himself, commissioned it and sub­se­quent­ly wrapped the valley in a mantel of silence. Continue reading →

Posted in General, Urtext | 1 Comment